This Science Fair Globe Patrol is a solid state regenerative set covering broadcast and short wave.
There are no tubes in this set. What's it doing here?
I'm a sucker for simple regenerative sets. Listening to short wave with a minimalist regenerative set is a fun experience that introduced many to the wonders of radio. This little set has a classic regenerative circuit. Even though it uses transistors, some of the romance of short wave with a simple timeless circuit comes through. Sold by Radio Shack, the set covers four bands from 550KHz through 30 MHz and has a separate bandspead. This set started life as a kit.
An earlier Globe Patrol kit was a three tube regenerative pictured at this link.
Schematic and manual
Thanks to Mark A. for alerting me to the availability of a schematic on the web. The Globe Patrol schematic is available courtesy of KC6VDX. KC6VDX also recounts some of his experiences with the Globe Patrol.
Gianni Mazzantini has scanned the entire manual for free download.
A copy of the Globe Patrol manual can be found here.
Repairs
The plates of the variable cap in this set were shorted together. I separated the the plates back to where they should be, checked the solder joints, plugged in a matching power cube, and listened to short wave on this cute little set. Cosmetically the set was in excellent shape. The peel-away clear plastic that protects the metal panel has never been removed.
The Heathkit GR-81, another regenerative kit, was the previous item on the bench.